Already a subscriber? Log in
Mr Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, gave six hours of evidence to the Iraq inquiry chaired by Sir John Chilcot. Of Saddam Hussein, he said: ‘The decision I took — and frankly would take again — was if there was any possibility that he could develop weapons of mass destruction we should stop him.’ The question of going to war, he said, ‘isn’t about a lie or a conspiracy or a deceit or a deception. It’s a decision.’ He took the opportunity to mention Iran 58 times: ‘I would say that a large part of the destabilisation in the Middle East at the present time comes from Iran.’ Asked if he had any regrets, he said: ‘Responsibility but not a regret for removing Saddam Hussein.’ In her own evidence to the inquiry Miss Clare Short, the former Labour International Development Secretary, said of Mr Blair: ‘I’m not saying he was insincere. I think he was willing to be deceitful about it because he thought it was right.’ The Bar Standards Board is to test prospective barristers, foreign-born or British, on their fluency in English. Toyota is to recall up to two million cars in Britain and Europe lest their accelerator pedals stick.
China threatened to impose sanctions on American companies involved in a $6.4 billion arms deal with Taiwan. President Barack Obama of the United States cancelled a project to send people back to the Moon, but the United States budget deficit would still rise to $1,600 billion this year, he said. Mr Obama is not to attend a summit in Spain in May between the United States and the European Union. The EU told Greece to cut its public-sector pay bill and collect more taxes, because its deficit of nearly 13 per cent of gross domestic product was putting strains on the euro zone. Mr Joe Socrates, the Prime Minister of Portugal, indignantly denied suggestions that its debt crisis was comparable to that of Greece. Unemployment in Spain reached four million, 18.8 per cent of the workforce, as it struggled with a deficit of 11.4 per cent of GDP. Roger Federer won the Australian Open tennis final, beating Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13-11). The South Korean National Pension Service bought a 12 per cent stake in Gatwick airport.
The United States increased warship patrols in the Gulf and deployed Patriot missiles in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to counter any attack from Iran. Israel disclosed in a report to the United Nations that it had reprimanded two military commanders for shelling a UN compound in Gaza last year; incendiary shells had set it on fire. A woman suicide bomber killed 41 pilgrims in Baghdad on their way to Karbala; another bomb in Karbala killed 20 more. In Haiti the UN World Food Programme began giving out, to women only, 55lb bags of rice, enough to feed a family for two weeks, at 16 sites in Port-au-Prince. Haiti detained 10 Americans on suspicion of trying to take 30 children out the country. In a video message, Rachel Chandler, taken captive by Somali pirates on 23 October and separated from her husband Paul, said: ‘Please help us, these people are not treating us well.’ People around the town of Jharia in the Indian state of Jharkand reacted angrily to government plans to move 400,000 people living above a coalfield that has been burning for more than 90 years. An Indonesian motorcyclist accepted £335 compensation after a cigarette he was smoking exploded, blowing out six teeth; Mr Andi Susanto, 31, said he was now thinking of giving up smoking. CSH
Also in Society
Also by The Spectator
Latest
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in